Taking care of eggs for eating

[MIChickandGuinea]

So - I have read what I can find about keeping our eggs fresh for use, and it's my understanding that they stay fresh on the kitchen counter for quite a long while as long as you have never refrigerated them, and as long as you don't wash them ... but is there a way to clean them off a little if I don't get out to the nesting box early in the day and they get a little soiled? I mean a way to clean them without then requiring refrigeration? Thanks for any info!

(The coop is clean. It's just that one of our girls likes to sit in the nesting box for long hours every day and just sing the egg song over and over, even when she has already laid her egg. She sometimes gets the eggs messy...)

 

[rjohns39]

So - I have read what I can find about keeping our eggs fresh for use, and it's my understanding that they stay fresh on the kitchen counter for quite a long while as long as you have never refrigerated them, and as long as you don't wash them ... but is there a way to clean them off a little if I don't get out to the nesting box early in the day and they get a little soiled? I mean a way to clean them without then requiring refrigeration? Thanks for any info!

(The coop is clean. It's just that one of our girls likes to sit in the nesting box for long hours every day and just sing the egg song over and over, even when she has already laid her egg. She sometimes gets the eggs messy...)

I don't think there is, but someone else might have a better idea. Even dry brushing will remove the bloom. So in my kitchen, if soiled, they get washed and put in the fridge. Clean, carton on the counter.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I thought you could brush off anything dry or use a little water. It's more that you don't want to use soap or something harsh that will remove the bloom.
Don't think this one will come clean with anything short of a Brillo!

 

[rjohns39]

I'm probably more risk tolerant than most--but everything I read about the bloom conflicts with everything else I read, some say ultra fragile, while others say ultra strong. So I play the "better safe than sorry game." When I get an egg like that, which happens all too often with all this rain (no matter how hard I try to keep clean dry straw in with the ducks, it turns into a mud slick when it rains), I'll get the water HOT, let it run for a bit over the egg and then clean it with my egg brush... It'll come out pearly white--but at that point, even if the bloom is strong, I'm pretty certain its gone.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I refrigerate once I collect. And if I'm honest unless they have poop on or look like the one in the photo I don't wash them at all. I also eat them after I've given them wormer. They get such a small amount even if all of the dose they got went into one egg I'd have to eat at least 10 at once to give myself a dose of wormer.

 

[barred2rock]

I take them from the nest to the fridge to my stomach. I don't even wash the ones I consume raw, although I haven't gotten poop eggs.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I take them from the nest to the fridge to my stomach. I don't even wash the ones I consume raw, although I haven't gotten poop eggs.

Ha ha Ha! Every so often I get one that maybe someone stepped in poop then touched an egg in the box. It's mostly mud when we get lots of rain. But if it's a question of poop then a rinse is in order.

 

[Birdinhand]

we use a skelter on the counter for organizing and don't refrigerate. If I need to wash an egg, I do it right before I use it.

I also use a nipple waterer to help cut down on the concentrations of bad bacteria and it has kind of revolutionized coop maintenance!